The Animal Core will be directed by Dr. David Cheresh. The major function of this core will be to examine the anti-tumor activity of compounds developed in mice bearing human tumors. Compounds developed in the Vogt, Boger and Cheresh laboratory will target human tumor growth by targeting the oncogene function within tumor cells, while compounds developed as integrin antagonists will be used to block tumor-induced angiogenesis. This core will also be used to assess the role of targeted gene delivery on angiogenesis, tumor growth and metastasis. The effect of blocking angiogenesis will be further analyzed in terms of anti-tumor activity in two mouse models: 1) the nude mouse model, and 2) the SCID mouse human skin chimeric model as well as syngeneic models.